Monday, 20 November 2023

Chance Or Change

"True, the captives had been getting a balanced diet for a chance..."

That looks wrong to me. Let's check another edition:

"True, the captives had been getting a balanced diet for a chance..."
-Poul Anderson, "The Sharing of Flesh" IN Anderson, The Long Night (New York, 1983), pp. 203-240 AT p. 235.

Still not right. Try another:

"True the captives had been getting a balanced diet for a change..."
-Poul Anderson, "The Dipteroid Phenomenon" IN Harry Harrison (Ed.), Four For The Future (London, 1974), pp. 60-90 AT p. 86.

Yes. That was the original version of the story. There is also a slight grammatical difference.

The lowlander, Moru, killed Donli Sairn to feed his sons. Immediately after this, the sons begin to mature physically. Evalyth investigates further.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I checked my copies of "The Sharing of Flesh" to see how different editions treated this part of the text:

"True, the captives had been getting a balanced diet for a chance..." FLANDRY'S LEGACY (Baen Books, April 2011), page 502.

"True, the captives had been getting a balanced diet for a change..." THE LONG NIGHT (Sphere Books, London, 1985), page 206.

"True, the captives had been getting a balanced diet for a change..." THE HUGO WINNERS: VOLUMES ONE AND TWO (Ed. Isaac Asimov, Nelson Doubleday, 1962 and 1971, page 793).

"True, the captives had been getting a balanced diet for a change..." THE NIGHT FACE AND OTHER STORIES (Gregg Press 1978, page 104).

All four of the versions I have of "Sharing" has the comma after "True," and only the bit I
quoted from the Baen Books edition has "chance" instead of the correct word "change."

Ad astra! Sean

DaveShoup2MD said...


Proofreaders! Can't live 'em, can't live without 'em ... ;)

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Dave!

Ha! A happy hunting ground for detail obsessed nerds!

Read up sometime on the rather comic struggles JRR Tolkien had with the proof readers and printers of THE LORD OF THE RINGS.

Ad astra! Sean